Since I am an early riser, I am usually the first one in the shower in the morning. You know how hard it can be to leave your comfy place under the soft, warm bed covers and hop into the shower even when you are anticipating the feel of the warm water cascading down. Problem is, the first blast of water out of the shower is not warm! It's cold! So first thing every morning, I turn on the water, pull the knob to activate the shower and then run to the back of the shower and cower in the corner until the water warms up. Once I'm standing under that warm flow, it's easy to stay there until the water starts to run cold again, in fact, when I'm cold, I love standing under the warm water until there just isn't any more in the water heater.

I think the gospel is rather like an early morning shower. When you get your first revelation from the Spirit of God that you are lost without God, that you have violated the holiness of God with your sinful behavior, that you are deserving of all that hell has to offer, it's like that first cold water blast of the morning shower-shocking, chilling, almost paralyzing. It causes you to want to run and cower in a corner, shrinking away from God because the contrast between what you thought you were and what the Spirit has revealed that you are is so stark in contrast, it's horrifying because your realize that there is absolutely nothing you can do to make it right.

Soon, the message of what God is offering and what Christ has provided begins to penetrate your heart, imploring you to come closer- much like those first warm shower droplets that jump up on your skin and assure you that it is now safe to approach and stand under the toasty, soothing stream. You take a tentative step at first, but soon you realize that the only place you want to be is directly under the flow until it fully saturates every part of you leaving you completely clean and refreshed!